NEW YORK — Strong profits from major retailers and an upgrade to Hewlett-Packard helped push stocks higher Tuesday.
Sears and Tiffany raised their earnings forecasts. Sears said it could earn twice as much as analysts had predicted this year. Tiffany said brisk holiday sales would push earnings higher.
“Consumer stocks have been left for dead,” said Matt Lloyd, the chief investment strategist at Advisors Asset Management. Consumer companies cut so many costs during the recession that any slight bump in spending “has a much bigger effect on margins.”
HP was among the leaders in the Dow Jones industrial average after analysts at UBS raised their earnings estimates for the computer maker.
The Dow rose 34.43 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 11,671.88. The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 4.73, or 0.4 percent, to 1,274.48. The Nasdaq rose 9.03, or 0.3 percent, to 2,716.83.
“There’s still good stock- market momentum,” said Kevin Caron, a market strategist in Florham Park, N.J., at Stifel Nicolaus. “We continue to get improvement in the earnings picture. The equity market looks reasonable, assuming the economy continues to expand.”
U.S. stocks followed gains in Europe as Japan pledged to buy bonds issued by Europe’s financial-aid funds, joining China in assisting the region as it battles against a debt crisis that prompted bailouts of Ireland and Greece.
“It’s appropriate for Japan to make a contribution as a leading nation to increase trust in the deal. We want to buy more than 20 percent,” Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said at a news conference in Tokyo.
Verizon and AT&T were the Dow’s laggards. Verizon said it will start selling a version of Apple’s iPhone on Feb. 10, breaking AT&T’s sole hold on the popular phone. AT&T had been the exclusive carrier since the phone launched in 2007. Verizon fell 1.6 percent to $35.36. AT&T fell 1.5 percent to $27.91.
Gains were spread across the market. Energy companies rose 1.6 percent to lead the S&P 500. Three of the 10 industry groups in the index fell, led by telecommunications companies. They fell 1.5 percent.
European stock markets jumped after Japan said it would buy bonds being issued to finance Europe’s bailout fund.
Inventories at U.S. wholesalers unexpectedly declined in November by the most in almost a year, indicating stockpiles will provide less of a boost for the economy.
The 0.2 percent decline in inventories compared with a 1 percent median forecast in the Bloomberg News survey and followed a revised 1.7 percent gain in October that was less than initially estimated, Commerce Department figures showed Tuesday in Washington.
Sales rose 1.9 percent in November.
